Extension

Some questions have come through the Extension Office recently involving these moldy-looking “things” on the bark of trees. What are they? Do they hurt the tree? Let us learn a little more…

These living organisms are called lichens. A lichen is actually composed of two different organisms, an alga and a fungus, which grow together for the mutual benefit of one another. The fungus provides the structure to the lichen and the alga provides the food through photosynthesis.

Cooking, eating and talking together are healthy mealtime habits the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service is encouraging families to adopt with Recipes for Life. This nutrition and cooking program will inspire county residents to make mealtime family time, while equipping youth with kitchen experience and skills to create healthy foods at home.

The ultimate test of forage quality is animal performance. Producing high quality forages is vital to improved animal performance, whether your goal is more pounds of milk, a higher rate of gain, increased wool production or an improved conception rate.

Forages provide a major percentage of the nutrients for beef cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and ruminant wildlife. If the quality is not right, you cannot feed animals enough forage to achieve production goals.

Slugs are among the first creatures to become active in spring. They scrape their mouthparts across leaves, stems, and flowers to ingest plant tissue.

Shade gardens are ideal habitats for slugs, along with mulched areas containing bedding plants. New transplants and small seedlings are especially vulnerable to these creatures.

Soft-bodied slugs require cool, humid conditions, so they usually feed at night and hide during the day. They can be difficult to manage if the conditions that favor them remain unchanged.